


Red String

by Drarley



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternative Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto), BAMF Haruno Sakura, Haruno Sakura-centric, No Uchiha Massacre, Slow Burn, Strong Haruno Sakura, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:20:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22701613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drarley/pseuds/Drarley
Summary: Everything was burning. The trees, the ground and especially her muscles, sore from all the fighting. The Fourth War has been going on way too long to remember how many days exactly. All Sakura could see was fire and Kaguya in front of her that she was getting ready to attack once more. And then, there was nothing.Something went wrong, completely wrong and now she was back in the time before she even attended the academy.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 42
Kudos: 272





	1. Prologue

The stench of fresh blood and death almost made her vomit, but Sakura continued to fight. Dodging hits, parrying weapons, barely avoiding flying kunai. Her entire body was aching. How long had it been since the fight started? It could have been minutes, hours, days. The eternal darkness and rain that had fallen over the battlefield made it hard to tell. Only the giant, red moon illuminated the world now.  
The fight seemed to go on forever when finally, Madara was stopped. Obito Uchiha's left hand had impaled the final foe before them. But something was off. It wasn't Obito. Black Zetsu, one of Madara's own people, had literally stabbed him in the back. 

Team 7 was thrown high into the air. Blue Chakra burst out of the ground and towards Madara. At first it strengthened him but after a while big bubbles distorted his entire body. Without any hesitation, Naruto and Sasuke charged forward. Before the two boys could strike, they were entangled in two, long strands of white hair. Madara’s body continued to grow, turning him into a humongous ball. This was Sakura’s chance to attack but after only a few steps Kakashi stood before her and held her back. She tried to resist. Both of the boys were immobilised but so was Madara. It was the perfect opportunity. 

Black Zetsu covered Madara’s entire body and finally his Rinnegan. Obito’s limp body fell to the ground and the combined form of Zetsu and Madara regained a more human form. Madara now had white skin and wore a white, high-collared hime-kimono with black tomoe running down the centre and along the edges. Two browns horns stuck from his forehead. The third eye in the middle of his forehead opened to reveal a Rinne Sharingan, followed by two Byakugan.

This was not Madara Uchiha anymore. 

Kaguya. 

Naruto’s and Sasuke’s hands started to glow and Kaguya released them from her grip. Sasuke tried to fight off his strand of hair while Naruto was pushed back. Sakura could only stare in horror as her two teammates were through around. Kaguya appeared beside her, barely noticing her and Kakashi. Her sole focus laid on the two boys. Her mouth was moving but Sakura couldn’t hear a word she was speaking.  
The floor beneath Sakura’s feet vanished and she stumbled, trying to find somewhere to stand. She saw Kakashi fall next to her into a pit of lava.

She fell and fell, and everything turned black.


	2. Warm Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plagued by nightmares Sakura wakes up in her childhood bed. Later that day she and her mother go to the market where Sakura sees the reason why she may have been brought back.

Screams filled the night followed by quick footsteps and the creaking of old wood floors. The slightly squeaking hinges signified the opening of a door and two warms arms were slung around Sakura.

The smell of her mother suddenly engulfed her but that was impossible.

All of this was impossible.

She was falling into a pool of lava. Her teammates were dying. Her mother had died years ago during Pain's attack on the village.

How could this be? It couldn't. Sakura used all her power to look for signs of a genjutsu and carefully tried to sense foreign chakra signals but there was nothing. Her chakra was simply her own, there was the person hugging here that seemed to be her mother and the very little, resting chakra source in the room across the hall she recognised as her father.

The chakra was there. The smell of her childhood, of innocence, of love. Her mother's smell was there. The warmth of another person holding her was there. The slightly quickened heartbeat of a person that just got out of bed to run to their crying daughter was there. Everything was there. This had to be real.

Sakura needed to think. She forced her tears down like she had so many times before and tried to calm her breathing. Breathing had never been this hard. Finally, Sakura understood why so many of her patients had trouble breathing after or even during a fight. No matter how much she told herself to calm down, her body wouldn't stop shaking and shivering, her lungs wouldn't cooperate with her mind at all.

Focusing her eyes in the bear sitting at the end of the bed didn't help. In fact, it made things worse because Teo-san, the small bear with the big feet, had been torn apart when Sakura was 7 and she'd missed him ever since.

She closed her eyes and tried again to calm down. Her hands slowly stopped shaking and her breath calmed down a bit. The stiffness from her mother's shoulders also relaxed as Sakura's body did and it helped Sakura immensely.

Her mind entered a space of peace and calm allowing her to form proper thoughts.

The last thing Sakura remembered was the Fourth Shinobi War. The old Team 7 was fighting against Madara Uchiha and then someone named Kaguya. Then the surface of the earth had vanished, and she and her teammates had fallen into lava. Now she was here.

Sakura couldn't even begin to understand how she had gotten here. First of all, she needed a theory for that, but nothing came to mind. She knew that she wasn't trapped in a genjutsu, she already tried to sense that, and she couldn't think of anything in this world that would give her the ability to travel through time or space or even both.

Nothing. She couldn't grasp how she had left the battlefield and showed up here, in her bedroom, with her apparently not-so-dead mother beside her.

A warm and familiar hand pat her head as if it was made of glass and pushed her hair out of her face. Two soft lips were pressed against her forehead, filling her with love and a sense of safety that felt oddly out of place. Warm tears rolled down her cheeks again but this time she didn't cry out and screamed.

The protective arms of her mother put Sakura back into her pillows and covered her with her pink blanket again. She felt another, soft kiss on her forehead and then her mother left again, leaving the door a bit open on her way out.

Sakura stayed silent and still. She instinctively tried to focus her chakra in her ears to hear whether her mother had gone back to bed herself but after only a few seconds her entire world was spinning and a loud, never ending sound almost deafened her. She pulled her chakra completely back, almost shocked by how little there was.

Not being able to tell whether Mebuki had gone to bed or not Sakura decided to stay put as long as she could endure and use this time to get accustomed to the complete darkness of the room.

Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, Sakura felt safe enough to sit up and look around. She didn't doubt it at all, this was her childhood bedroom. Teo-san at the end of her bed, a rock laid on top of the book she was apparently reading at the moment next to her bed. A set of marbles softly glistened in her bookshelf and a vase of pink flowers stood on her windowsill.

Still unable to explain how she had gotten here Sakura studied her surroundings more. Her weak chakra made it almost impossible for her to detect any other chakra sources but she was almost certain that no one was on the roof or the street.

Her vision became blurry and her head was overcome with dizziness as exhaustion took over her body and she fell back into her pillows and into a restless sleep. Nightmares of dying Shinobi plagued her dreams. All those Shinobi that she had killed, all those Shinobi that she couldn’t save, all those friends. Ino, her best friend since childhood completely covered in both her own and her enemies’ blood. Shikamaru and Akamaru, the cute and funny pair of human and dog with their limbs feet away from their actual bodies. Neji, the calm genius stabbed to protect his friends.

The nightmares overcame her one by one. One worse than the other and in between she always found herself falling into the pit of lava. With every friend she saw dying she came closer to the molten rocks but never quite reaching them. Painful cries and horrendous screams followed her into the early morning hours.

Rays of sun hit Sakura’s face and warmed her rosy cheeks. The business of the street below her and her mother’s calling woke the little girl. Sakura jumped up and her right hand instinctively flew to her thigh where her pouch should be but it wasn’t there. And she wasn’t in a tent either. She was at home, in Konoha. Standing on her old bed with vigilant eyes looking for the enemy she knew should be there but all she could see were her toys and books and stuffed animals and everything a normal girl with a normal childhood and a normal family would own.

Her throat was dry but her mouth was filled with saliva and Sakura felt the need to bend over. Her nightmares and her memories came over her suddenly. She ran to the bathroom and threw up the entire contents of her stomach. The smell made her gag and her stomach involuntarily flexed again.

She sensed her mother’s chakra before she even entered the bathroom. Her soft hands were all over Sakura, held her hair back and checked her forehead for a fever. Sakura knew that her mother was whispering kind words into her ear and promised to take her to a doctor, she knew that her mother told her that everything would be okay again, she knew that her mother was nothing but worried about her and was very vocal about it but the words were nothing but white noise to Sakura. They reached her ears in a distorted mess of what they should have been, and her brain couldn’t take anything in that was said.

Mebuki gently cleaned Sakura’s face and the bathroom before carrying her daughter down into the kitchen. Sakura sat at the breakfast table with glassy eyes and a light head. More and more food was set on the table before her but Sakura barely took notice of anything that happened around her. She was trapped in the world of the future and the memories of a past that hadn’t even happened yet.

A hand was put on Sakura’s shoulder and she couldn’t help but jump up again. She grabbed the wrist, ready to through the person over her shoulder but her tiny arms couldn’t muster the strength to do it.

“Are you okay, Sakura-chan? Do you feel sick?” It was the voice of her mother. The sweet, gentle voice of her mother that always made everything feel okay. A voice she hadn’t heard in such a long time.

“Here, have some rice. I even bought your favourite, umeboshi.”

Pickled plums. The sour fruit that no other child she knew liked. Her mother always said that she was an old lady trapped in a child’s body for liking them so much. Sakura felt a finger on her cheek wiping away a tear. A tear? Was she crying?

Her mother took the small plate with the plums and placed it in Sakura’s hand. Sakura immediately grabbed her chopsticks and put a plum in her mouth. It was delicious. It always was. After weeks of only eating rice and beating the hunger with soldier pills she almost forgot what real food tasted like. She gobbled up a second plum and then reached across the table for the Miso. Tears kept streaming down her cheeks and her mother laughed a bit, saying that not even tears and nightmares could end Sakura’s appetite for her favourite food. Sakura didn’t care. There was only one thing on her mind and that was delicious food. She left out the rice but ate everything else on the table, even the things she never liked suddenly seemed delicious to her.

Once her stomach started to hurt, she knew it was time to stop but she didn't want to. Now being able to fully take in her surroundings she noticed that her father was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she couldn’t sense his chakra because she was still very weak as a child, but she didn’t want to rely on that.

“Okaa-san, where is Otou-san?”, Sakura asked. Asking couldn’t hurt, right? Her mother laughed a bit.

“Silly Sakura-chan,” she said and gently booped Sakura’s nose. “You know that he has to leave early. He’s at the market. But he forgot his lunch, do you want to come out with me to bring it to him?” Her mother smiled at her and Sakura gladly accepted the invitation to go out. She hadn’t truly realised just how much she had missed the village now that she was back in it.

“If you help me clean up, I’ll buy you something small, dear.” Sakura could hear the smile in her mother’s voice. Buying something small to get Sakura to clean up was something her mother had always been a part of their days. It worked fantastically and even as a teenager Sakura always kept her room or her workspace clean.

Sakura got out of her chair and grabbed the nearest thing she could clean up. A stack of the daily newspaper, probably her father’s. He liked reading the news in the morning, something Sakura never understood as a child but the desire to know what was going on in the world was something she completely understood as a teenager. She checked the date of the paper and after a bit of calculating realised that she was 4 years old at the moment.

Her 17-year-old self stuck in her 4-year-old body. Not wanting to think about this again because it would only give her another headache Sakura started jumping up and down while taking the paper away. In later years she had realised that physical activities were a great way to not think and she would regularly exercise just to stop thinking so much.

The table was cleaned up in a few minutes and Mebuki sent her daughter to her room to get dressed properly. A white dress with ribbons and frilly edges laid on her bed already. It had been one of her favourite dresses as a child, it was a gift for her 4th birthday. Sakura put it on but not without short tights underneath it. Now she looked cute and in case there would be a conflict, she could easily rip the dress at the side and use her legs properly to protect herself and her mother. It took her a few moments to realise that there was no reason for any conflict to arise. Konoha was living in a time of peace and prosperity, it would just be her, a child, and her mother taking a walk to the market.

Sakura patted her dress gently and made her way downstairs again. She wouldn’t ruin this dress. Not now and not ever. Mebuki was already waiting for her and handed her a pair of pink sandals.

“Are you ready, Darling?” she asked while putting on her own shoes. Sakura quickly agreed. She couldn’t wait to be outside. She could feel the sun on her skin again, enjoy the breeze in her hair and look at all the colourful shops at the market. Today would be a good day.

Sakura promised herself to enjoy this day as much as she could. She didn’t know how she had gotten here, and she couldn’t know when this would be over. She might be ripped out of this dreamlike experience at any moment and pulled back into her dark and horrifying life of war and death. She couldn’t allow herself to get soft but at the same time she also wanted to make sure that she would enjoy and appreciate this second life until it was over again.

The first thing she did to make sure that she would appreciate this world was holding her mother’s hand as they walked out the door. Mebuki looked down at her and smiled. Sakura smiled back at her.

Together the two of them walked all the way to the market. Sakura knew that it was only a few streets and corners from their home but in her small body it seemed like a very long way. As a child Sakura would have never noticed this but with her current experience, she noticed how many Shinobi of different ranks walked through the city. She sensed many on the rooftops but every time she tried to actively look at one of them, they were gone. She hoped they didn’t notice that she was looking for them. A child with the ability to sense a fully trained Shinobi on the roof would give her more attention than she wanted but at the same time she wanted to see just one to know that she wasn’t imagining it. She needed the confirmation that even with her tiny chakra reserve and her not-yet-developed muscles she wasn’t completely powerless.

They reached the market without any incident and without Sakura having seen a Shinobi she had sensed. She stumbled a bit but her mother held her up.

“Are you okay, my dear? Are you still feeling sick?” Her mother asked. She had bent down to her and held her in her arms as if Sakura were made of glass. Sakura knew that what she was experiencing was not a sickness but chakra exhaustion but there was no way that she could tell her mother that.

“My head is spinning. My tummy hurts too,” she said. She tried her best to make a sad and pained face.

“Let’s bring Otou-san his lunch, get you your reward for cleaning up with me and then we just have to get some herbs and spices and we can go back home, okay? It’s just a bit longer.” Her mother tried to comfort her and Sakura was grateful for it. She nodded and took her mother’s hand again as they made their way to her father’s shop.

When the shop came into view Sakura let go of Mebuki’s hand and ran towards the shop. Chakra exhaustion and her tiredness didn’t matter anymore. She ran straight into her father’s leg. He turned to her, almost surprised at the open affection his daughter was showing him. He gently ruffled her hair and bent down to her.

“Good morning, big girl. Did you help making my lunch today? It always tastes better when you do,” he greeted her and Sakura simply jumped into his arms. Deep down she knew that it was unusual for her to show this much affection for her father, they were never as close as she was to her mother, but she did miss him and maybe now she could have a better relationship to him too.

“I’m sorry, Otou-san, I didn’t help. I’m sick today. But I’ll help tomorrow and every day until I can do it all by myself! Like a big girl!” The enthusiasm in her voice filled her heart with a warm love and Kizashi smiled at her.

“I look forward to the first lunch my daughter makes me all by herself then.”

Mebuki handed her husband the lunch and Sakura hugged him once more before they said goodbye to Kizashi and continued their way through the market. Most of what they needed could be bought in a single shop but Sakura still needed to pick a reward for herself. A toy? A book? A stuffed animal? So many things swirled through her head that a child could want but none of them tempted her now.

Would her mother buy her a set of kunai? What about toy Kunai? Sakura wanted her muscles to get used to throwing them as fast as possible.

They were standing in front of a small shop with toys and souvenirs as Sakura noticed a fairly large group of people in the corner of the market. They all had black hair and their clothes had a red and white fan on them. The fan was an all too familiar symbol to her. The Uchiha Clan.

If members of the Uchiha Clan were here, then the massacre couldn’t have taken place her. Maybe that was the reason why she was here. Maybe a god or something similar put her here, into the past, so she could rewrite it. So, she could make it better.

She had a chance to save an entire clan, to save the entire world of the Fourth Shinobi War. She could save Sasuke from his hate-driven future and obsessive desire for revenge. Or simply, to see him become happy.

Sasuke, Naruto and herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm aware that the war was only two days long but for the further continuation of the story I've decided to make it longer.   
> Thank you very much for reading and I wish you a lovely day!


	3. Shinobi and Sprinkles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After running some errands with her mother on the market, Sakura ends up running into a more than familiar face. What starts as an already confusing day, ends up being even more difficult to process.

Her eyes flew from one black-haired head to the other. Over twenty people, all with the same hair and eyes and overall similar features and the same fan crest.  
She walked closer towards the group of Uchiha. The closer she walked to them, the more people she could make out. There were lots of women with their children. Maybe one of them was Sasuke? She wanted to see him, she had to see him. 

Looking for him with her chakra was not an option. Firstly, she was too weak at the moment and secondly, trying to sense one specific Uchiha out of a bigger group would paint a target on her back that she would never get rid off. If only one of them noticed her chakra she would be in big trouble.

So she had to get closer.  
Her mother was somewhere behind her asking her where she was heading but Sakura could barely hear the words. Her blood was rushing through her ears and her own heartbeat overshadowed the noise of the market around her. Sasuke’s face filled her entire head, the determination to find him filled her to the brim.

She didn’t notice the person standing in front of her and they hadn’t seen such a small child and the collided, Sakura’s chest and their leg. Sakura stumbled and fell to the ground. The person felt the impact on their leg, turned around and immediately bent down to help Sakura back up. 

Eyes widening in horror she stared up at the person she had just run into. A deafening scream escaped her mouth at the face above her. Impossible. It should have been impossible. This person should not be here, they couldn't be here. They were dead, everyone knew that. She almost didn’t recognise him. With his short, spiky, black hair and black eyes he looked as normal and average as humanly possible. His skin seemed soft and even but somehow she still knew that it was him. 

Uchiha Obito. 

Then, everything went black.

There was nothing more familiar to her than the smell of a hospital. She knew where she was but Tsunade-shishou had taught her better than just relying on her sense of smell. The blanket and the hard mattress did feel like ones from a hospital bed. The door to her room must be closed because all the voices she heard were muffled and low. She recognised her mother’s, it was filled with concern.  
As Sakura opened her eyes the door opened and a young nurse walked in.

“Oh, you’re awake already? I didn’t even notice.” the nurse had a soft and gentle voice and a kind laugh. She seemed oddly familiar. “I’m Hanako-chan and I may still be in training but I’m the one taking care of you. How are you feeling, Sakura-chan?”

Hanako-chan, of course. She was one of the nurses that first taught her when she started her training as a medical-nin.

“I’m fine!” Sakura said immediately. She put her arms next to her on the bed and tried to push herself up to sit but her arms were shaking and she fell right back into the soft pillow. She could hear Hanako-chan laugh a little.  
“You should take it easy. You made your mother worry very much, Sakura-chan.”  
“I’m fine, really,” she lied.  
Of course she wasn’t fine. But there was no one she could tell. If she did, they most likely would not believe it at first and if they did, they would only try to use her. This whole situation was messy already, she didn’t need to put herself and her family in any more danger by getting any unwanted attention. 

Right now she was just a child that fainted. Maybe it was the sun. Maybe she just wasn’t feeling so well today. It definitely was not travelling from the biggest battlefield anyone had ever seen back in time to her childhood bedroom. If her mother was smart enough not to tell anyone about the nightmare Sakura seemed to have had, she wouldn’t tell anyone either. First, she needed to know who she could trust.

“Sakura-chan? Sakura-chan, do you hear me?” Hanako-chans face suddenly appeared before her eyes.  
“Is everything okay? You seemed very far away for a moment.”  
“I’m sorry.” Sakura said. She grabbed the blanket with her tiny fists and looked away from the medical-nin. “What were you saying?”  
Hanako-chan chuckled lightly. “I said that you won’t have to spend the night here. Your mother is taking you home when you feel ready enough to get up and walk. There’s a very handsome, young man waiting outside. He’ll bring you and your mother home.”  
“A man?” 

If her father was there Hanako-chan would have said so, who could this man be?  
“Yes, a man. He was there when you fainted and he carried you here. Isn’t that charming?” Hanako-chan smiled at her again.  
“Does he have a name? I should thank him.” Hanako-chans smile only got wider and wider.  
“It’s an Uchiha. Have you heard of them? They’re a very famous and powerful Shinobi Clan. The one that brought you here was Uchiha Obito.”

Obito. Sakura’s face went black. Why was Obito here, she asked herself. Kakashi-sensei had told them on a mission that Obito had died when they were just children, crushed by a huge boulder. That’s the story how Kakashi-sensei got his Sharingan. If Obito was here, alive and well, did Kakashi-Sensei still have one Sharingan? If Obito in this time was alive, what else had changed? She needed to find out more about this time and this place she was in. 

“Sakura-chan? Are you still with me?” Hanako-chans voice pulled her out of her thoughts. “Do you want to stay the night?”

Sakura shook her head. Of course she didn’t want to spend the night here but the thought of being brought home by the traitor and mass murderer Uchiha Obito was not an easy one. He knew her face. He knew her mother by now, Sakura was sure that they must have talked on their way here and if he was waiting here to take them both home they had had plenty of time to get to know each other. But maybe Obito wasn’t a murderer yet but the one she had learned to know and hate was as ruthless as they came. Apparently, he was a normal member of society, a Shinobi, a member of one of the biggest, wealthiest and most powerful clans in the whole nation. 

She couldn’t bring herself to trust him. Her mother had surely taken it upon herself to invite him for dinner to thank him for helping her and her child. She suddenly felt like throwing up.  
Obito Uchiha will not set a foot into my home, she repeated in her head to keep herself from throwing up.

The door opened and Mebuki walked in. She immediately walked over to the bed and put her arms around her young daughter. A flood of questions washed over Sakura.  
“Are you okay? How do you feel? Do you still feel sick? We can go home soon, if you want?”  
Sakura gently put her tiny arms around her mother. “I’m fine, Okaa-san, I promise,” Sakura whispered to her mother. She loved her, very dearly, but how could she ever tell her the truth? She couldn’t burden her mother like that, she couldn’t break her mother’s heart like that.

“You’re ready to go, Sakura-chan, I only need your mother to sign some papers at the front desk for me,” Hanako-chan said with a gentle smile on her face. Her mother helped get out of the hospital bed and held her hand the entire walk to the entrance of the hospital.  
“How about we get ice cream for you, darling? Would you like that? You can have a giant scoop or even two. With whipped cream and sprinkles and everything. Would you like that?”  
Of course her mother would suggest this. Whenever Sakura had gotten sick they went out for ice cream as soon as she was better again. Tears filled her eyes but she smiled and nodded greatly.

“I love ice cream. But it’s just you and me, right?” She asked hopefully. She would do everything in her power to make sure Obito stayed away from them as much as possible.  
“I’m sorry, my dear, but there is someone with us. His name is Uchiha Obito, he’s just a bit older than you and he brought you here. As a thank you I decided to treat him to some ice cream too. Look, he’s right there.” Mebuki pointed at Obito and Sakura was close to throwing up again. All appetite she had had for ice cream was instantly gone. 

“Do you think the kid likes ice cream?” Mebuki asked as they came closer.  
“Okaa-san, he’s not a child anymore. He’s a shinobi and as a shinobi you cease to be seen as a child when you reach the rank of Genin. Look at his clothes, they’re so bright and flashy, he must be either very stupid or very strong to be able to afford to wear something like that. The more recognizable your clothes are, the more likely you’ll be attacked. I’m sure he’s at least a Chunin already. Not to mention that he belongs to the Uchiha Clan.” Sakura came to a halt right before Obito.

“Oh my, what a smart young lady. How do you know all that?” Obito’s voice was gentle and calm and reeked of lies and treachery to Sakura. Blood rushed into her face.  
“I, uh, read a lot. I read about shinobi,” Sakura replied quickly. He of all people could not find out about her secret. 

“Are you planning on becoming a shinobi? You could start the academy soon, you do know what the academy is, right?” Obito continued their little conversation.  
“I’ll leave you two kids to it, I have some paperwork. I’ll be right back and then you can have ice cream.” Mebuki said and Obito grinned at her as she turned. Sakura wanted nothing more than to run after her and hide from Obito but she knew she shouldn’t. Sakura stayed quiet even as Obito stared at her waiting for a reply.  
“Sakura-chan? That is your name, right? Your mother told me. I’m very sorry for bumping into you at the market. I should’ve watched out more.”  
Sakura still didn’t reply, she didn’t even look at him. Hoping he would think she’s still feeling unwell and not plainly rude. She just wanted her mother back.  
“Do you know what kind of ice cream you want?” Sakura almost admired his tenacity. Didn’t he notice that she didn’t want to talk to him? She simply shook her head as a reply.  
“I thought about getting chocolate ice cream. Or maybe strawberry? I don’t know yet either.”

“Are you kids ready?” Finally, her mother was back. “He’s not a kid, Okaa-san.” Sakura said quietly. Mebuki laughed a little and corrected herself. “Yes, darling, he’s a shinobi, isn’t he? How did you know that again?”  
“She read it in a book, Haruno-san,” Obito said. “But she doesn’t know if she wants to be a shinobi.”  
“Ino-chan is going to be a shinobi. She told me that she will go to the academy this or next year. I want to be with Ino-chan, we can fight together and protect each other. It’s what best friends do.” Even though it happened years ago, Sakura could remember it like it was yesterday. The last time she had told her mother she wanted to be a shinobi she also said that Ino-chan was the reason why she wanted to become one. Ino-chan, her best friend, came from a prominent and powerful clan. That time, her mother had laughed and agreed to enroll Sakura at the academy after she had talked it through with her husband. Sakura hoped that this time her mother would react the same.

“That’s a very noble reason, Sakura-chan,” Obito said as Mebuki chuckled a little. “Last week you wanted to be a princess and marry Sasuke-kun. What about that?” Sakura looked a bit sour at her mother. 

She couldn’t help but think about the Sasuke she knew. Right before she had woken up in her 4 year-old body she had seen him fall into lava after they tried to kill Uchiha Madara, Obito and Zetsu. Before that Sasuke had spent years trying to kill her. She couldn’t say how she felt about Sasuke at the moment. She knew that some part of her still loved him, if not as a potential boyfriend then at least as a good friend and teammate. They had gone through so much together, all of Team 7. There had been ups and downs, good days as well as bad. But she was absolutely certain that she would protect him. 

“There’s more important things than boys. Besides, I can like boys and become a great shinobi.” Mebuki and Obito both stared at her.  
“When did you grow up so much?” Mebuki asked. Sakura could punch herself. She wasn’t supposed to be 4. She had never thought that being 4 again could be so difficult. She made a mental note with several, urgent exclamation marks to try to be more like a 4 year old. She could barely remember the way she talked or walked back then, she would need some time to research. The best way to get more information on 4 year-old children would be to spend time with them. She should ask her mother to take her over to Ino-chans tomorrow or at least to the park. 

“Let’s go get some ice cream. And if anything happens, I will have two strong shinobi to protect me, how about that?” Mebuki smiled at both of them and took Sakura’s hand again like her daughter had not just spoken to her like an adult. Sakura squeezed it lightly and Mebuki squeezed it back. It felt nice. Sakura had missed the touch of her mother.

On their way to the ice cream stand Mebuki and Obito continued a light conversation. Both of them occasionally tried to involve Sakura into their smalltalk but Sakura barely responded with more than three words. Her thoughts were running wild. Obito, the future, how she could become an excellent shinobi without being seen as a genius because she didn’t want to attract any unwanted attention. She also stared at every child her age they came across. Most of them had a jumpy walk and dropped their feet heavily on the floor or dragged their feet halfway across the floor. Both of those walks were less than suitable for a shinobi, who tried their best to be as quiet as possible. Sakura had a lot to learn about being a child and being a child shinobi. 

The vanilla ice cream with whipped cream on top and pink sprinkles helped to calm her mind a bit but with Obito there as a constant reminder the thoughts simply didn’t stop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so so much for all your kind words on the last chapter. I'm very sorry that it took me so long to write this one, the current situation kinda messed up my daily life (as for mostly all of us) and it was a bit hard to get back to a structured plan. Even when it comes to writing. 
> 
> I hope you're all doing well, also mentally. Please stay safe. <3


	4. Hide and Seek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weeks passed and Sakura slowly got used to being back in time, trying to seem like a normal kid of her age. What she didn't calculate was the sudden attention she got from two too well-known Uchihas.

Time flew by as days turned into weeks. Sakura quickly adjusted to her new life as a 4-year-old. The more time she spent with Ino and the other kids the easier it became. Speech patterns and physical ticks were obvious enough to spot within a few days of spending time around them and after only a week or two Sakura felt comfortable with her ability to pass as a child herself. Sometimes she still slipped up, but she heard her parents talk about that exact thing one evening and her mother thought it was natural that Sakura was starting to grow and mature more. 

Most of her days were spent outside at the park playing with Ino and other kids or going to the market with her mother but her nights were spent devouring book after book to find out as much as she could about time-space continuums, jutsus that were able to manipulate time and possible consequences of meddling with time. Was she meddling with time? She didn’t mean to change anything, not yet at least.  
Sakura was not proud of it but the books she used for her research were stolen. She had stolen them per se, they were borrowed from the library and that is what libraries were for. But no one knew she had borrowed them, and she still felt bad about it. She always returned the books as soon as she was done with them, so no one found out. It was the first part of her secret shinobi training, she always told herself. Sneaking around and taking things without being noticed was something any shinobi who wanted to be more than a Genin should absolutely have to manage.

Whenever Sakura had been alone, she had worked on building up bigger chakra reserves. The sooner she started the better. She needed to be strong and ready for what was to come. She knew that if she changed things in this timeline, it may not come to what she experienced, but Sakura was not one to take that chance.

Two months after the hospital incident Sakura saw Obito again.

She was playing with Ino and a few other girls at the playground when Sasuke-kun ran past them. Unfortunately, he almost ran over Ino. He didn’t turn back to apologise to her but Ino couldn’t care less.

“He touched me! Sasuke-kun, he touched me! Did you see, Sakura-chan?” she squeeled excitedly. She jumped up and down and clutched her hands over her chest. If she didn’t know that it was impossible, she would have said that Ino’s eyes were heart-shaped as she looked after the running Sasuke-kun. Sakura would not tolerate this kind of behaviour. He was a child, of course, but he couldn’t just run over another child like that. 

“I’ll touch him too! With my fist!” Sakura yelled and ran after him as fast as she could and caught up with him within a few seconds. Her hands connected with his back and Sasuke-kun fell forward onto his knees. He turned around, surprised that someone pushed him and was already opening his mouth to tell her off. Sakura was standing over him, her feet a bit apart and her hands rested on her hips. She was grinning.

“Don’t run over Ino-chan like that! It’s not funny, she can get hurt! You have to watch out more and if you don’t, I’ll punch you!” Sakura would not let anyone hurt Ino and the Sasuke-kun that she knew had hurt all of them a great deal.  
“You wanna fight, huh? But you’re a girl! I’m an Uchiha, I can fight!” Sasuke-kun got up and brushed some dirt out of his face. His eyes were filled with anger and it was all directed to her. She immediately regretted her decision to push him, but she refused to let it show.  
“You’re a big meanie, that’s what you are!” She would knock that stupid anger out of his face, out of his heart. She pushed him over again and straddled him, pinning his hands down next to his head. He barely struggled.  
“Don’t hurt Ino-chan again! You must be nicer, to all of us! We can all play toge-” Sasuke-kun’s eyes widened and suddenly Sakura was lifted from the little boy.

“My, my. Who do we have here?” Familiar black eyes and a charming smile greeted Sakura. Obito held her up by the neck of her shirt and held her before his face. “Are you fighting with my little cousin, Sakura-chan?”  
Sakura shook her head. She didn’t want to speak to Obito. She had almost forgotten about him. He gently put her down next to Sasuke-kun, who had used the moment to get up. Obito knelt to look into both of their eyes. “Why don’t you two just make up and play together? Sasuke-kun can be the nukenin and you will be the shinobi, Sakura-chan, wouldn’t that be exciting?”  
Sasuke-kun shook his head as much as Sakura did. It was obvious that he didn’t want to be the nukenin but Sakura just didn’t want to play with him.

“My friends are there, I’m playing with them,” Sakura mumbled and looked over at Ino. She was staring back at Sakura like she had seen a ghost. Her shy, little Sakura-chan, talking to two Uchihas at the same time! One of them was Sasuke-kun and the other was a handsome older boy. Of course, Ino was starstruck.  
“Maybe they want to play too? Tell you what, first we can all play shinobi and nukenin, I’ll be the nukenin and you will all be the shinobi, and whoever catches me gets to be Sasuke-kun’s princess.”  
Ino and the other girls had gotten closer to the three of them and gladly accepted the offer. Sasuke-kun had never played with them before, Sakura couldn’t blame her for being delighted by this. She would have been just as thrilled. 

To the trained eye it was horribly obvious how easy Obito was going on them. He barely vanished, only to reappear high up in a tree or several metres away from where he’d been before. She only saw him use the tricking jutsu that made a log of wood look like him once. None of them got even close to tagging Obito and after a while Sakura lost interest in playing. She decided to sit down in the middle of the playground. The others barely took notice of it but after a few minutes Obito suddenly appeared in her field of vision. He was crouching right next to her.

“Do you know what chakra is, Sakura-chan?” She turned her head to him and stared into his black eyes.  
“Yes.”

He stared at her waiting for more than just one word. As far as Sakura was concerned, he could wait forever.

“Do you want to explain to me what it is?”  
“No,” she replied. Another one-word answer. This was all he was getting but Sakura knew he wasn’t going to be satisfied with it. He chuckled lightly.  
“Come on, Sakura-chan, you can tell me. I bet I can tell you more about it. Do you like bets?”

Sakura wasn’t listening. Her eyes and mind had wandered elsewhere. Someone else had arrived at the playground. Blond hair, bright blue eyes and a sweet smile. Naruto was here. Seeing him immediately made her smile. She hadn’t seen him yet; she hadn’t had the chance to talk to him to befriend him properly. Obito followed her eyes.  
“Who is that handsome, young fellow?” His voice was lower. Obito knew exactly who that was.  
“No one.” She hated herself for bringing attention to Naruto. Obito knew about him because Obito needed him for his evil plans. Not that Sakura could prove that at the moment or even tell anyone. The hokage would never listen to a child like her anyways. But Naruto absolutely didn’t need Obito’s attention.

She got up and ran over to him. Not being able to just hug him broke her heart. She didn’t mind pushing Sasuke or being mean to him, but she knew that she had to be kind to Naruto. He needed kindness and love, no matter how happy and excited he always acted. He needed a friend.  
“Hi! My name is Sakura and we’re playing shinobi and nukenin! Do you want to play with us?” she basically screamed at him. Instead of the huge smile she had expected, he backed away a little bit. Right this moment, Shikamaru came up behind him.

“You’re playing shinobi and nukenin? We’re not the nukenin.” Shikamaru looked as bored as ever but Naruto smiled a bit more knowing that he was there.  
“Obito-kun is the nukenin, that’s the stupid Uchiha there. Whoever tags him gets to be Sasuke-kun’s princess for the rest of the day. You should join.” Sakura tried to grin as much as possible, it wasn’t difficult while thinking about Naruto. Naruto and Shikamaru both grimaced.

“We don’t want to be anyone’s princess.” Naruto looked a little grumpy again. Sakura thought it was cute.  
“You can be a prince!” Sakura tried to grin as much as possible. Naruto was completely convinced. They played together for almost the entire day. Sasuke and Obito had to go first but Sakura and Ino agreed to playing more with Naruto and Shikamaru. 

It was a great way for Sakura to spend time with the other children, see how they walk and talk and try to find back to her sweet and innocent childhood self. When the sun was started to set her mother came to pick her up and Sakura told her all about the great day she’d had. Mebuki was clearly happy to see that Sakura was happy and playing with her friends. Sakura knew that her mother was worried about her, but she was working on it.

Hidden under her bed she had several advanced books; she meditated every evening before going to sleep to build up more chakra and while playing with her friends she trained her frail body as best as she could. 

A week had passed since she had played with everyone at the park and she hadn’t seen Obito since. Not that she actually wanted to see him ever again but knowing where he was also calmed her a little. While she could see him, she knew that he wasn’t somewhere else, scheming with Madara. 

It was late at night; Sakura should be at home in her bed. Instead, she was running through the forest surrounding Konoha with her small backpack. She suppressed her chakra and went immediately hid whenever she saw or heard something out of the ordinary. Branches cracking under an animal's paw, birds flying through the bushes, squirrels running through the trees causing the leaves to rustle. 

After almost half an hour she finally reached the spot she wanted. The trees had grown taller and taller and Sakura knew that no one who passed by on the ground would see a little child sitting in the tree several metres above them. She spent another five minutes catching her breath and looking for the perfect tree. It was tall, just like the others, but there were other trees very close to it and the leaves would create the perfect hiding spot. She channeled all her chakra into the soles of her feet and ran.

She laughed when she reached the top. This was her first time sneaking out into the woods at night and it felt wonderful. Feeling the chakra surge run through her entire body, the wind in her hair, the tree under her feet. It felt like the first time she had run up a tree. The first time she had been better than Sasuke and Naruto. It would still happen exactly like that in a few years, but she already knew that moment of power and pride. She sat down with her back to the trunk and her legs crossed. With her eyes closed she started meditating.

What Sakura didn’t know was the team of shinobi coming home from a week-long mission. Led by team leader Itachi, three members of the Uchiha-Clan ran through the trees. They came to a stop before the village.

“You two can head home already and inform the head of the clan, I will report back to the Hokage. I still expect a full, written report by tomorrow evening.” Itachi’s voice was calm and definite. Obito and Shisui agreed, despite being higher ranked than Itachi. It was his first mission as a team leader, both of the older Uchihas remembered how straining it was back then on their nerves too. So they nodded in unison and Itachi was gone.

Obito sighed in relief. “That was one hell of a mission, right?” They continued their way home much slower than before. No one would attack them or wonder why two members of the same clan were outside at night. However, knowing they were safe did not mean they could be careless or stupid. Obito heard a small, whispering voice coming from the trees above them. He held his hand out and Shisui stopped right beside him. Just as Shisui wanted to ask why the stopped, Obito held a finger before his mouth and pointed upwards and then to his ears. Shisui understood. He shut his mouth and send more chakra into his ears to improve his hearing.

“...one of them has to know something. The clan is huge and old. I Just need a friend there; someone I can trust and talk to. These books aren’t helping, Sasuke is too young and Obito is...just no. I don’t even want to think about that.”

The small voice continued to talk about their clan and books and training. The two Uchiha stared at each other. Somehow, the voice seemed familiar to Obito. He waved his hand gently and the two shinobi silently moved closer.  
“Is that a civilian?” Shisui asked, his voice inaudible to anyone without improved hearing. Obito craned his neck to get a good look at the girl. Sakura still sat there with her eyes closed, talking about information, a training plan, and more books she would look into. 

“How does she know what the Mangekyou Sharingan is? She looks younger than Sasuke and not even he knows. Is she a spy?” Shisui glared at her, creeping closer with every word her muttered but Obito pulled him back.

“Her name is Haruno Sakura. I ran into her before we left for the mission and she lost consciousness. Her parents are simple civilians, her father works in the market. There’s no way she’s a spy.” Obito informed him. He told Shisui how they had played together in the park and how odd she had seemed after a while. “I don’t know why, but she doesn’t like me. I noticed that she knows a lot about chakra and she even seemed to be able to feel it but getting into a tree like this? Lots of clan-kids would love to have her knowledge and control, little Sasuke-kun included. We should absolutely keep an eye on her.” Obito sounded very thoughtful and couldn’t take his eyes off the little girl.

Shisui laughed a little. “If she doesn’t like you, I’ll go to the park with Sasuke-kun. I’m great with kids.” Obito wanted to box him but Shisui dodged the simple hit.

The two Uchiha agreed that, for now, they wouldn’t tell anyone about the weird, civilian child. They knew too well what would happen with her, they had seen it before. T&I would interest in finding out what the kid knew and they couldn’t let that happen to the small girl, Danzo would want to have another genius child join his ranks. Children were easy to train, they believed what you told them and that made turning them into killing machines so much easier for Danzo. Patience and silence were the key components of their self-appointed mission.

They watched her meditate for a few more minutes, then saw her move and pack some books into her backpack and shoulder it before jumping down from branch to branch. Shisui stayed up in the tree and followed her from above while Obito tracked after them. If she had met up with someone from another village, they had come too late for that. Sakura went home through the darkest corners and slimmest alleys without seeing or being seen by anyone except the Uchiha boys, she hadn’t even made a single sound while moving through the darkness.

She used her chakra to climb into her house through her bedroom window up on the first floor. Both Uchihas could feel the tiny chakra signatures of her commoner parents sleeping soundly in the room next to her. Obito and Shisui were equally impressed by Sakura’s chakra-control. They stayed for a few minutes longer and watched the small window but nothing interesting happened. She stored the books under her bed and went to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, it took me so long to write this chapter. By the beginning of this year it was my goal to upload every two weeks but I didn't know how hard this semester would be.  
> So thank you very much for all your patience!  
> Another subject: I'd love to hear theories, thoughts and suggestions in the reviews! It really really means a lot to us writers and I really like to exchange ideas for example! 
> 
> Otherwise I hope you're all doing well. If there might be any of you who just needs someone to talk to in these hard times, I'm there. 
> 
> See you in the next chapter!


End file.
